Shiv Sena Calls Key Assembly Poll-Related Meet on 27 September

BJP has agreed for 144 seats, the Shiv Sena will get 126 seats and the rest will be for allies, sources said.

Image of Maharashtra map and Shiv Sena symbol (L) and BJP symbol (R) used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Amid delay in seat-sharing pact with the BJP, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has convened a key meeting on Saturday, 28 September, to discuss the party's preparations for the 21 October Assembly polls in Maharashtra.

Prominent Sena leaders, office-bearers and ticket aspirants will attend the meeting in Mumbai, PTI reported on Friday, citing a party release.

District and taluka-level chiefs of the party along with aspirants who were interviewed for poll tickets have been invited for the meeting, it said.

The Sena meet comes in the backdrop of BJP leaders from the state holding discussion with the central leadership in New Delhi to assess poll preparedness for all the seats.

After a meeting between Home Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Delhi on Wednesday, 26 September, sources close to the matter told The Quint that seat sharing formula with Shiv Sena is almost certain and the announcement will be made soon.

As per the current alliance proposal for the upcoming Maharashtra elections, the BJP has agreed for 144 seats, the Shiv Sena will get 126 seats and the rest 18 seats will be for smaller allies, sources said. The BJP has agreed to give the deputy CM position to the Shiv Sena, they added.

The saffron allies are locked in an intense negotiation on seat-sharing and a consensus has eluded them till now on how many constituencies each of them will contest in the 288-member Assembly.

The Shiv Sena had won 63 seats in 2014 when both parties had contested the elections separately. A few months later, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party joined the government led by Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of Maharashtra.